Anderson Daily Mail
April 24, 1914
THE
YOUNGEST COLONEL
James
R. Hagood of South Carolina Commanded a Regiment at
19
South Carolina had
the distinction of having the youngest regimental commander in the Confederate
States army. This was James R. Hagood, commanding the First South Carolina regiment of
Micah Jenkin’s dauntless brigade. He was less than 19 years of age when he was
commissioned colonel.
There
are just from the press two books in which two Hagoods
are discussed. One is Johnson Hagood’s Memoirs, edited by U. R. Brooks, and the other is
“The Recollection of a Private Soldier, C. S. A.,” written by F. M. Mixon, and edited and compiled by John W. Holmes of Bavawell.
Col.
Hagood is declared to have been a remarkable
soldier. He succeeded two such men as
Johnson Hagood and Thos. J. Glover and on account of
notable ability as well as the most conspicuous courage was promoted over the
heads of all the field officers and several of the ranking captains, and so
pronounced were his characteristics as a great soldier that there was no
dissention among those over whom he was promoted.
Of
him Gen. Lee wrote as follows: “It gives me great pleasure to state that Col.
J. R. Hagood, during the whole [unreadable phrase] of
Northern Virginia was conspicuous for gallantry, efficiency and good
conduct. By his merit consistently
exhibited, he arose from a private in the regiment to its command, and showed
by his actions that he was worthy of the position.”
J.
R. Hagood volunteered as a private in the above named
regiment just before its departure to Virginia in the summer of 1862 under the
command of Thos. P. Glover, who had succeeded Johnson Hagood
to the colonelcy of the regiment upon the latter’s promotion to brigadier
general.
J.
R. Hagood was promoted sergeant-major of the regiment
November 16, 1862. He was promoted to
captain of company K January 1863. He
was promoted to colonel of the regiment on the 16th of November
1862, the commission being dated within 10 days of his 19th
birthday, he was doubtless the youngest colonel commanding a regiment in the
Confederate army.
This
rapid promotion came to him while serving in and forming part of that
incomparable infantry which bore upon its bayonets the falling fortunes of the
Confederacy for four long years.
[Transcribed by Sharon Strout]
